top girls

went to see top girls tonight at mtc. thanks t for the tickets!
i'm still trying to figure out how i feel about it, which is usually a good sign because clearly it has stayed with me. it is complex, infuriating and polemical at times, incomprehensible at others. so, i think i really loved it. the play, that is. there are some genius performances. mary beth hurt should be given an award for the most delicious performance in the shortest scene ever played by one of america's greatest actresses. truly subtle, understated and heartbreaking. exit applause. elizabeth marvel created a character that is at once reprehensible and yet achingly endearing, all the while dressed in the greatest and most unflattering 80's attire. the costume design was astounding.
the last act is a masterful piece of writing. family recrimination, sisterly rivalry, 80's politics, or more specifically thatcherism and reaganism, are dissected and eviscerated. yet the sin is that marisa tomei is way out of her league or at least her comfort zone. i think ms. tomei is a talented actress. but not as a dowdy suffolk working class mom. however, i do give her props for sporting fanny padding and mom jeans. it was like watching a child who has been raised by wolves. she knows how to ride with the pack, yet doesn't know how to kill with her teeth.
all in all, it is a GREAT play. and for me, that means it made me think.